The exemplary embodiment relates to the printing arts. It finds particular application in connection with a system comprising multiple printers in which documents to be printed are securely stored in print ready format at a user's terminal for later access and printing by the user at any one of the printers. However, the following is amenable to other like printing methods and apparatuses.
While methods exist for ensuring that documents remain relatively secure from unauthorized access while stored on a user's computer or network server, there is often relatively little security once the user elects to print a document and his or her personal computer sends the document as a print job to a network printer. This is typically a file in a page description language (PDL) such as PostScript, which is communicated from the personal computer to the network printer. The print job is placed in a print job queue, and the printer processes the queued print jobs on a first-in-first-out (FIFO) or other ordering basis. While awaiting printing, the PDL resides at the printing device, which may be remote from the user, presenting opportunities for data theft. The physical printed sheets present another security risk. The person who generated the print job may not be present at the printing device when the physical printed sheets are generated, providing another opportunity for theft.
Some printing systems allow a user to send a document to a printer and then initiate printing by entering a code when the user arrives at the printer so that the user can ensure that the document is not printed until he or she can be physically present. However, such systems still create information security risks in that the document may be retrieved from the printer memory by an unauthorized user. Additionally, a user may wish to be able to print the print job at an as yet undetermined one of several printer locations. The user may not know where the printed document will be required, but may wish to be able to print the document at a location when he does not have access to his terminal, for example, during a meeting to be held later in the day. If the document were to be sent to multiple printers, the document could be retrieved from any one of the designated printers by an unauthorized user prior to the time that the document is erased from the printers' memory.